
1/^^ 






FEDERAL AID TO COMMON SCHOOLS IN THE STATES. 
SPEECH 

OF 

HOK J. H. EEAGAI^, 

OF TEXAS, 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
Tlmrsday, January 5, 1888. 



I assume that Congress can only lawfully levy and collect taxes 
and appropriate money to carry out the purposes for which tho 
Federal Government was established, and that to prom.ote aducation 
in the States was not one of these purposes. 



WASHINGTON. 
1888. 



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Federal Aid to Coinnion Schools in the States. 



SPEECH 



HO]^. J. H. EE AG AN" 



Mr. Reagan, said: 

Mr. Pkesident: Mr. President: so much learning and ability have 
'been displayed during past Congresses in the discussion of the provis- 
ions of the bill under consideration and of the principles involved in its 
passage that I can hardly hope to throw any new light on the subject; 
and yet I feel that it is due to the people of the State I in part repre- 
sent that I should state some of the reasons why I will vote against its 
passage. 

Belore entering upon a statement of these reasons I must say that so 
much of the purposes of the bill as look to the enlargement of common- 
^school facilities, improved education, and to the increase of knowledge 
has my most hearty approval, and any measure to promote those pur- 
poses which would not involve a violation of the Constitution would 
command my support. While the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. 
Blaik], the author of this bill, is entitled to great credit for the labor 
and research he has bestowed on this subject, he is entitled to still 
greater credit for the humane and noble purpose which he avows of a 
desire to secure to the illiterate people of impoverished States the ad- 
vantages of better education and higher civilization. It is not the pur- 
pose he would accomplish, but the method he adopts to secure its ac- 
complishment to which I am opposed. 

My opposition to this bill is based on the absence of power in Con- 
gress to enact such a law; on the fact that its passage would be the 
adoption of a policy of centralization which would establish a despotism 
of popular majorities, overthrow the Constitution, and endanger the 
liberties of the people; because it oiFers a bribe in money to the people 
"to sacrifice their manhood and self-reliance and to surrender their con- 
stitutional government in consideration of the paternal care of a master 

3 



"whose ultimate cruelty we may not now be able to estimate; and be- 
cause it would be the surrender of our birthright for a mess of pottage. 

I do not wish to see the American people surrender that sturdy self- 
reliance which has characterized them from the first settlement of the 
American colonies to the present time, nor to see them demorali^;ed and 
degraded by any system of subventions from the Government which 
would deprive them of the indepenc'ent and resolute purpose to take 
care of themselves without pecuniary aid from the Federal Govern- 
ment. 

This bill would have other important effects upon the public inter- 
ests, to which I am opposed, whether they are sought to be accom- 
plished by the Senator from New Hampshire and other friends of the 
bill or not. Among these would be the use of the public moneys to 
carry out the purpose of this bill as a pretext for perpetuating a high 
protective tariff and to prevent a reduction of the great burdens of tax- 
ation now imposed on the people, and by the same means to aid in the 
perpetuation of the national debt and our present system of national 
banking. While I mention these two objects as important, and in 
themselves suiScient to control my vote against this bill, I do not pro- 
pose to discuss them now. My principal objection to it rests upon the 
still higher grounds just mentioned. 

CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION CONSIDERED. 

I deny the constitutional power of Congress to pass such a law. Under 
our system of dual government, where the people are sovereign, and 
where they are the government-malcing power, and where they have 
conferred such powers as pleased them on the State and Federal gov- 
ernments, respectively, and retained to themselves such powers as they 
chose not to confer on either, it is as necessary for the law-making power 
under either of these governments to inquire into its jurisdiction when 
attempting to legislate as for courts of justice with special or limited 
jurisdiction to inquire into their jurisdiction when they come to adju- 
dicate a case. 

"We should never lose sight of the fact that in this country the people 
are sovereign; that they delegated to the Federal Government such 
powers, and such only, as to enable it to deal with other governments 
foreign to ours, that is, to control our international policy, and such as 
to enable it to deal with our Federal and interstate relations, covering 
such subjects as relate to the interest of the whole Union, such as were 
necessary for the welfare and safety of the whole people, and as could 
not with propriety and advantage be exercised by the several States. 
Such as the power — - 

To lay taxes, duties, imposts, and excises. 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States. 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the States, and with 
Indian tribes. 



To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the sub- 
ject of bankruptcies throughout the United States. 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the 
standard of weights and measures. 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin 
of th<j United States, etc. 

Such were the powers our fathers thought it necessary and wise to 
confer on Congress. 

And after conferring these powers they provide by the tenth amend- 
ment to tlie Constitution that — 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro- 
hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the peo- 
ple. 

The people for their own protection reserved some powers which they 
refused to confer upon either the State or Federal Government. 

The vast residuum of powers, not delegated by the Constitution to 
the Federal Government and not reserved to the people, are conferred 
on the several State governments. These embrace, among many others, 
the power to regulate the acquisition, control, and ownership of prop- 
erty; the providing security for life, person, and property; the manage- 
ment of the estates of deceased persons, embracing the power to regu- 
late the descent and distribution of estates, and the making of wills; 
the power to regulate marriage and divorce; the power to make all po- 
lice regulations necessary for the good of society; the power to organize 
courts of justice for the enforcement of the laws of the State; the power 
to levy and collect taxes to support the State government, etc. ; in a 
word, the power to regulate and control the local and domestic inter- 
ests of the people, as contradistinguished from the powers necessary to 
oariy out our Federal and foreign relations. 

We are told by Mr. Justice Story, section 906, in his Commentaries 
on the Constitution, a workconfessedly of the highest authority, that — 
The Constitution was, from its origin, contemplated to be the frame of a na- 
tional government, of special and enumerated powers, and not of general and 
unlimited powers. 

He says further in the same paragraph that — 

If the clause "to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and gen- 
eral welfare of the United States" is construed to be an independent and sub- 
stantive grant of power, it not only renders wholly unimportant and unneces- 
sary the subsequent enumeration of specific powers, but it plainly extends far 
beyond them and creates a general authority in Congress to pass all laws which 
they may deem for the common defense and general welfare. Under such cir- 
cumstances the Constitution would practically create an unlimited national 
government. The enumerated powers would tend to embarrass and c jnfuse, 
since they ■would only give rise to doubts as to the true extent of the general 
power or of the enumerated powers. 
And in section 907 he says : 

For what purpose could the enumeration of particular powers be inserted, if 
iliese andall others were meant to be included in the preceding general power? 



Nothing Is more natural or common than first to use a general phrase and then 
to qualify it by a recital of particulars. But the idea of an enumeration of par- 
ticulars which neither explain nor qualify the general meaning, and can have 
no other effect than to confound and mislead, is an absurdity which no one ought 
to charge on the enlightened authors of the Constitution. It ^'ould be to charge 
them either with premeditated folly or premeditated fraud. 

This strong language of a great judge and law writer ought to be re- 
peated as many times as attempts are made by Congress, such as the 
passage of the bill under consideration, to usurp the rights of the States, 
to overthrow the Constitution of the United States, and to- make a cen- 
tralized government to take the place of the Federal system of govern- 
ment provided by the Constitution. 

If I may be pardoned, I will here make a digression from this par- 
ticular line of argument so far as to state that I am of opinion no gov- 
ernment of so great territorial extent as the United States, and with 
such a great variety of interest, could long be perpetuated as a central- 
ized republic. Such territorial extent and varied interests can be har- 
monized only under a federal republic like ours or under a monarchy. 
In a centralized republic of such territorial extent, population, and in- 
terests there would always be a majority and a minority section. And 
whether this majority should be situated in the north, the south, the 
east, or the west, the people of the majority section would claim the 
political advantages which thefr majority assured to them, and would 
demand the adoption of policies oppressive to the minority section, and 
their political representatives would, as a rule, insist on the adoption 
of such policies as a means of securing and preserving popular favor. 
This would inevitably lead to discontent, angry strife, and in the end 
to political turmoil and revolution. Hence in my view the great im- 
portance of maintaining inviolable ourpresent Federal system as marked 
out by the Constitution of the United States. 

Returning to the consideration of the question as to the unconstitu- 
tionality of the bill under consideration, I cite again from Story on the 
Constitution, section 436, language, which quotes approvingly from the 
Federalist, as follows: 

An entire consolidation of the States into one complete national sovereignty 
■would imply an entire subordination of the parts, and whatever powers might 
remain in them would be altogether dependent on the general w^ill. But as the 
plan of the convention alms only at a partial union or consolidation, the State 
governments would clearly retain all the rights of sovereignty which they be- 
fore had and which were not by that act exclusively delegated to the United 
States. 

The precise test as to the power of Congress is stated by Mr. Story, 
section 1238, as follows: 

Whenever, therefore, a question arises concerning the constitutionality of a 
particular power, the first question is whether the power is expressed in the 
Constitution. If it be, the question is decided. If it be not expressed, the next 
inquiry must be whether it is properly an incident to an express power and 



necessary to its execution. If it be, then it may be exercised by Congress. If 
not, Congress can not exercise it. 

Under what express grant of power are we to pass this bill "to aid 
in the establishment and temporarysupportof common schools" in the 
States of the Union ? Can any one point to the grant of power ? I take 
it no one will attempt to do so. If this can not be done, to what " ex- 
press grant of power is it an incident and necessary to its execution? " 
Will any Senator who favors the passage of this bill answer these ques- 
tions ? 

The tenth amendment to the Constitution, already quoted, declares 
that — 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro- 
hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the peo- 
ple. 

Judge story, commenting on this amendment, section 1900, says: 

This amendment is a mere affirmation of what, upon any just reasoning, is a 
necessary rule of interpreting the Constitution. Being an instrument of lim- 
ited and enumerated powers, it follows irresistibly that what is not conferred 
is withheld and belongs to the State authorities, if invested by their constitu- 
tions of government respectively in them ; and if not so invested, it is retained 
by the people as a part of their sovereignty. 

Speaking further of this amendment, section 1901, he says: 

Its sole design is to exclude any interpretation by which other powers should 
be assumed beyond those which are granted. All that are granted in the orig- 
inal instrument, whether express or implied, whether direct or incidental, are 
left in their original state. All powers not delegated, and not prohibited, are 
reserved. 

In further comment on this amendment, in the same paragraph, he 
says: 

One would suppose, if the history of the human mind did not furnish abun- 
dant evidence to the contrary, that no reasonableman would contend for an in>- 
terpretatlon founded neither in the letter nor in the spirit of an instruinent. 
Where is the controversy to end, if w^e desert both the letter and the spirit? 
What is to become of constitutions of government, if they are to rest, not upon 
the plain import of their words, but upon conjectural enlargements and restric- 
tions to suit the temporary passions and interests of the day? Let us never 
forget that our constitutions of government are solemn instruments, addressed 
to the common sense of the people, and designed to fix and perpetuate their 
rights and liberties. They are not to be frittered away to please the demagogues 
of the day. They are not to be violated to gratify the ambition of political lead- 
ers. They are to speak in the same voice now and forever. They are of no 
man's private interpretation. They are ordained by the will of the people, and 
can be changed only by the sovereign command of the people. 

This splendid passage is at once inspiration, prophecy, and warning, 
■which should not be disregarded by those who wish well of the Ke- 
public. 

This brings me to consider, in the light of the provisions of the Con- 
stitution and canons of construction which I have quoted, the report 
of the Committee of the Senate on Education and Labor, made during 



8 

the Forty-ninth Congress, reviewing and indorsing the report made by 
the same committee on the same bill during the Forty-eighth Con- 
gress. In that report the committee say, amo]:g other things, or rather 
the chairman of the committee says (for he declares that " as a matter 
of argument the committee as a whole is not responsible " for the re- 
port) : 

We propose to inquire into the nature and extent of the power and obliga- 
tions of the National Government to assist in the education of the people when 
necessary for its and their own preservation. 

With all respect for the honorable Senator who prepared the report, 
I venture the statement that this is one of the most extraordinary 
papers which ever emanated from the American Senate, in its bold and 
utter disregard of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, 
of all the recognized rules of its interpretation, and of the character, 
genius, and traditions of our Government. As this report may be sup- 
posed to embody the strongest arguments in favor of the passage of the 
bill under consideration, it is proper to inquire briefly into their value 
and merits. 

We may ascertain hereafter whether those members of the commit- 
tee who are absolved from responsibility for the report, and others who 
favor the passage of this extraordinary bill, have been able to give other 
and better reasons than those contained in this report in favor of its 
passage. 

The author of this report says: 

Our leading proposition is that the General Government possesses the power 
and has imposed upon itself—. 

Not that it is required by the Constitution, but that it has imposed 
on itself — 

the duty of educating the people of the United States whenever, for any cause, 
those people are deficient in that degree of education which is essential to the 
discharge of their duty as citizens either of the United States or of the several 
States ■wherein they chance to reside. 

This remarkable statement of the " leading proposition," as stated 
by the honorable chairman of the committee, in favor of the passage of 
this bill, at one bound, without constitutional warrant (as I expect to 
be able to show), and without reason or authority to sustain it, and in 
violation of the theory of our Government and in disregard of our po- 
itical traditions, would overthrow the great distinctive difference be- 
tween our theory of the sovereignty of the people and the theory of the 
monarchies of the Old World, that the king or emperor is the sovereign 
source of political power. It would make this grand eleemosynary es- 
tablishment, formerly known as the Government of the United States, 
the supreme and the sole judge of what is needful for the welfare of 
the people. In reference to ourpolitical system it would make the pyra- 
mid stand upon its apex. It would treat the States and the people as 



9 

■dependent on the will of the Federal Government in all matters in 
which it might determine that "whenever, from any cause, " they failed 
to come u]3 to the standard of qualifications and duty which Congress 
regards as the correct one the Federal Government can of right inter- 
vene and remedy the supposed evil. 

Our political theory is that the Government derives its powers from 
the consent of the governed; that the people are the sovereign source of 
political power; that they delegated such of their sovereign power as 
seemed to them best to the Federal Government, and such portion of it 
as they thought best to the several States, retaining to themselves such 
rights as they were unwilling to commit to the control of either of these 
governments. If there is no express grant of power to Congress to pass 
such a bill as this, and if the passage of such a Mil is not necessary as 
a means of executing some expressly granted power, then it can only be 
passed for the reason that the Federal Government is the sovereign 
source of political power and may do what it pleases without reference 
to the wishes and consent of the several States or of the people. To do 
this would be to overthrow the Constitution, to destroy the rights of 
the States, to disregard the will of the people, to change the character 
of our Government from that of a free, constitutional republic to a des- 
potism of centralized majorities, and in effect to deny the capacity of the 
people for self-government. 

The control of merely local and domestic questions by Congress j 
would, in a large measure, destroy the direct accountability of the rej)- 
resentatives to their constituents by removing them too far from the 
■observation of the people, and would thus open the way for recldess, 
improper, and prodigal legislation. 

Already by loose constructions of the Constitution and by usurpa- 
tions of power the jurisdiction of Congress has become so extended as 
to render it difficult for it to pass the required laws. Up to a quarter 
of a century ago it was a rare thing lor a session of Congress to pass 
more than a half dozen general laws outside of appropriation bills. 
Now, by these extensions of jurisdiction, we pass a considerable volume 
of laws at each session. If we adopt the principle which underlies this 
educational bill, that Congress may do w hatever it supposes the gen- 
eral welfare to require, then a perpetual session of Congress will not 
give sufficient time for the passage of such laws as may be called for. 
The result would necessarily be that Congress would have to delegate 
very extensive powers to the heads of departments of the Government, 
and that we should adopt a system of personal government, not resting 
•on the popular will and controlled by just legal provisions, but leave 
the interests of the public and the rights of the people to the discretion 
and at the mercy of Cabinet officers, not selected by the people and too 
far removed from them to be under any direct responsibility to them. 



10 

This would be the very essence of despotism ; it might be just and mild,, 
or arbitrary, harsh, and unjust, according to the character of the officer. 
Do honorable Senators feel prepared to go further than we have here- 
tofore gone, as the passage of this bill will require us to do, in assum- 
ing that the ' ' general welfare ' ' clause of the Constitution is a grant of 
power, and in centralizing the powers of this Grovernment, in destroy- 
ing the rights of the Stat«s as they exist under the Constitution, in, 
changing the character of our Government, and in sacrificing the lib- 
erties of the people ? 

The paragraph I have quoted from the report of the committee speaks 
of the duty which the Government of the United States had "imposed 
on itself." It has imposed no constitutional duty on itself, and can 
impose none. It derives its power by delegation from the people, and 
can lawfully exercise no other power than that which is so derived. 
The Government did not create itself nor did it prescribe its own 
' powers. 

I shall now copy a few other passages from this report, showing the 
reasons upon which it is proposed to pass this bill, and illustrating the 
doctrine by which our constitutional system of government is to be 
overthrown. In that report it is said: 

But the right to educate the children throug-hout the nation, is the right to 
preserve the Government and the nation. That right can not be curtailed. It 
s geographically coextensive with the jurisdiction of the Government itself, 
and self-preservation compels its exercise by the National Government when- 
ever there is failure for any reason on the part of the parent or the State. 

This is the new method of establishing the powers of the Federal 
Government to which the attention of Senators is invited. 

The constitutional Government of the United States has now been 
maintained in peace and war for nearly one hundred years. It has ex- 
hibited a growth in population and wealth and advancement in all the 
elements of civilization surpassing any other country in the world, an- 
cient and modern. During nearly one-half of this time, and when 
the foundations of its greatness were being laid, there were no fi'fie pub- 
lic schools in any part of the country. The men who fought the bat- 
tles of the Revolution and the men who framed our grand and wonder- 
ful Constitution of Government had none of the advantages of free 
public schools. I believe such schools were unknown then; and still 
our people did not go into barbarism and our Government did not 
perish. 

Again that report says: 

But Congress has express power to provide for the general welfare, of the 
United States, and to exert its utmost power of taxation to promote that which 
was one of the six greatest ends enumerated in the preamble, and to secure 
which the Constitution itself was ordained and established by the whole people 
of the United States of America. 



11 

I need hardly say that the preamble to the Constitution is no more- 
a grant of power than the caption of an ordinary act is a part of the law. 
And no respectable authority can be cited to show that it is a grant of 
power. Mr. Justice Story, whom I have so ofteu quoted, says, section 
462: 

And here we must guard ourselves against an error which is too often al- 
lowed to creep into the discussions upon this subject. The preamble never can 
be resorted to to enlarge the powers confided to the General Government or any 
of its departments. It can not confer any power perse; it can never amount by 
implication to an enlargement of any power expressly given. It can never be 
the legitimate source of any implied power when otherwise withdrawn from 
the Constitution. 

And again that report says: 

If in the past the National Government has not borne its due proportion of 
the burdens of the education of the people, or if new conditions have arisen 
which require of it a degree of co-operation with the several States not hitherto- 
necessary in securing to all citizens oT the Republic that degree of intelligence 
which is indispensable to the safety of society and to the happiness of the indi- 
vidual, who is at once the subject and the sovereign of both local and national 
administration, then the time has come for a new departure, and the withes of 
straw must yield to the expanding limbs of the giant vs'ho is arousing himself 
for the labors of the time which has already come. 

As the writer of that report makes no allusion to the necessity of 
amending the Constitution so as to accomplish his purpose, we may 
fairly infer that the Constitution of the United States is the " withes 
of straw" which must yield to his wishes on this subject. This idea is 
in harmony with the whole report. How do the supporters of the bill 
under consideration and the friends of education like that suggestion? 
Are they ready to adopt it ? 

I will give one more sample extract from that report. It is: 

Laws are silent in -war. They were silent in the conflict through which we 
have just passed. But what is meant bj' this ? Not that all laws are silent ; but 
that minor regulations which appertain to more quiet times are suspended in 
the overmastering presence of the great first law of self-preservation. In this 
sense, which is the true sense, laws may become silent in peace as well as in 
war. We are now in peace, but if there be laws which forbid education to the 
illiterate millions of the American people by the outstretched arm and bursting 
Treasury and innumerable intellectual and jnoral agencies of the nation at large, 
then those laws should, and, in the presence of the uprising sentiment of the 
people, I may say, they shall, be silent in this land until by the diffusion of 
knowledge and of the power which knowledge gives to every child within our 
borders peace may be made perpetual. 

If there be any law or laws in any part of the United States which for- 
bid the education of the illiterate millions, I have no knowledge of 
where they are to be found; and I suppose the hypothetical suggestion 
of that report on this point to be baseless. The only law which it is 
necessary to silence in order to secure the passage of the proposed bill, 
and to secure the carrying out of its policy, is the Constitution of the 
United States. I do not know whether it was the intention of the- 



12 

author of the report to urge a lawless disregard of the Constitution in 
order to carry the proposed measure, but I submit, in allcandor, that 
«uch seems to be the meaning and eifect of this extraordinary report. 

This school bill contemplates taxing the people to the extent of 

$79,000,000 to be applied to common -school education in the States. 

Where is the grant of power for the levying of such a tax to be found ? 

Article I, section 8, clause 1, of the Constitution provides that — 

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and 

excises — 

For what purpose ? 
to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of 
the United States. 

I have already shown that the "general welfare" clause is not a 
grant of power. The sum of money proposed to be expended is not 
io pay debts, nor is it for the common defense. Where, then, is the 
power to be found which would authorize the levy of such a tax ? 

The report of the committee recommending the passage of this bill 
assumes that, under the " general welfare " clause of the Constitution, 
Congress may " exert its utmost power of taxation." That is, that it 
may determine outside of constitutional authority for what purpose it 
will impose taxes on the people, and then it may oppress them by tax- 
ing to the utmost of its power. This doctrine is monstrous. And 
again, where do Senators find the power to tax the people of Illinois 
for the purpose of educating the people of Texas, or the people of Ohio 
to educate those of Mississippi, or those of Massachusetts to educate 
the people of South Carolina ? 

I assume that Congress can only lawfully levy and collect taxes and 
appropriate money to carry out the purposes for which the Federal 
Government was established, and that to promote education in the 
States was not one of these purposes. 

On this point I quote from page 108 of Cooley on Taxation, a book 
■of great merit, by an author whose book on Constitutional Limitations 
is of the highest authority, as follows: 

GRADE OF THE GOVERNMENT WHICH TAXES. 

In considering the legality of the purpose of any particular tax, a question 
of first importance must always concern the grade of the g-overnment which 
assumes to levy it. The "public" that is concerned inalegalsensein any matter 
of govern mentis the public the particular government has been pi'ovided for; and 
the "public purpose" for which that government may tax is one which concerns 
its own people, and not some other people, having a government of its own, 
for whose wants taxes are laid. There may, therefore, be a public purpose as 
regards the Federal Union ■n'hich would not be such as a basis for State taxa- 
tion, and there may be a public purpose Tvhich would uphold State taxation, 
tout not the taxation which its municipalities would beat liberty to vote and 
collect. The purpose must in every instance pertain to the sovereignty with 
w^hich the tax originates; it must be something within its jurisdiction so as to 
justify its making provision for it. The rule is applicable to all the subordinat<» 



13 

municipalities; they are clothed -with powers to accomplish certain objects, and 
for those objects they may tax, but not for others, however interesting or im- 
portant, which are the proper concern of any other government or jurisdiction. 
State expenses are not to be provided for by Federal taxation, nor Federal ex- 
penses by State taxation, because in neither case would the taxation be levied 
by the government upon whose public the burden of the expenses properly 
rests. To provide for such expenses would, consequently, not be a purpose in 
which the people taxed would, in a legal sense, be concerned. 

I must also beg the indulgence of the Senate while I read at some 
length the opinion of Mr. Madison, who is often called the father of 
the Constitution, on this subject: 

Mr. Madison. It is supposed by some gentlemen that Congress have author- 
ity not only to grant bounties in the sense here used, merely as a comiuutation 
for draT\'back, but even to grant them under a power by virtue of which they 
may do anything w^hich they may think conducive to the general welfare. 
This, sir, in my mind raises the important and fundamental question w^hether 
the general terms which have been cited are to be considered as a sort of cap- 
tion or general description of tbe specified powers, and as having no further 
meaning and giving no further powers than what are found in that specification, 
or as an abstract and indefinite delegation of power extending to all cases what- 
ever, to all such at least as will admit the application of money, which is giving 
as much latitude as any government could well desire. 

I, sir, have always conceived — I believe those -who proposed the Constitution 
conceived — it is still more fully known and more material to observe that those 
who ratified the Constitution conceived — that this is not an indefinite govern- 
ment, deriving its powers from the general terms prefixed to the specified pow- 
ers, but a limited government, tied down to the specified powers, which explain 
and define the general terms. 

It is to be recollected that the terms "common defense and general welfare" 
as here used are not novel terms first introduced into this Constitution. They 
are terms familiar in their construction and well known to the people of Amer- 
ica. They are repeatedly found in the old Articles of Confederation, Tvhere, 
although they are susceptible of as great a latitude as can be given them by the 
context here, it was never supposed or pretended that they conveyed any such 
powers as is now assigned to ihem. On the contrary, it was always considered 
clear and certain that the old Congress was limited to the enumerated powers, 
and that the enumeration limited and explained the general terms. I ask the 
gentlemen themselves whether it was ever supposed or suspected that the old 
Congress could give away the money of the States in bounties to encourage 
agriculture, or for any other purpose they pleased. If such a power had been 
possessed by any body, it would have been much less impotent, or have borne a 
very different character from that universally ascribed to it.' 

The novel idea now annexed to those terms and never before entertained by 
the friends or enemies of the Government will have a further consequence, whicti 
can not have been taken into the view of the gentlemen. Their construction 
would not only give Congress the complete legislative power I have stated; it 
■would do more, it would supersede all the restrictions understood at present to 
lie in their power w^ith respect to a judiciary. It w^ould put it in the power of 
Congress to establish courts throughout the United States, with cognizance of 
suits between citizen and citizen, and in all cases whatsoever. 

This, sir, seems to be demonstrable; for if the clause in question really author- 
ized Congress to do whatever they think fit, provided it be for the general wel- 
fare, of which they are to be the judge, and money can be applied to it. Con- 
gress must have power to create and support a ju«iiciary establishment with a 



14 

jurisdiction extending to all cases, favorable in their opinion to the general wel- 
fare, in the same manner as they havepower to pass laws and apply money pro- 
viding in any other way for the general -welfare. I shall be reminded, perhaps, 
that according to the terms of the Constitution the judicial power is to extend to 
certain cases only, not to all cases. But this circumstance can have no effect in 
the argument, it being presupposed by the gentlemien that the specification of 
certain objects does net limit the import of the general terms. Taking these 
terms as an abstract and indefinite grant of power, they comprise all theobjects 
of legislative regulations, as well such as fall under the judiciary article in the 
Constitution as those falling immediately under the legislative article, and if the 
•partial enumeration of objects in the legislative article does not, as these gentle- 
men contend, limit the general power, neither will it be limited by the partial 
enumeration of objects in the judiciary article. 

There are consequences, sir, still more extensive, ^vhieh, as they follow clearly 
from the doctrine combated, must either be admitted, or the doctrine must be 
given up. If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, 
and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the 
care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, 
county, and parish, and pay them out of their public Treasury; they may take 
into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner 
schools throughout the Union ; they may assume the provision for the poor ; 
they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads ; in short, 
everything, from the highest object of State legislation down to the most minute 
object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress; for every object 
I have mentioned would admitof the application of money, and might be called, 
if Congress pleased, provisions for the general w^elfare. 

The language held in various discussions of this House is a proof that the doc- 
trine in question was never entertained by this body. Arguments wherever 
the subject would permit have constantly been drawn from the peculiar nature 
-of this Government, as limited to certain enumerated powers, instead of extend- 
ing, like other governments, to all cases not particularly excepted. In a very 
late instance — I mean the debate on the representation bill — it must be remem- 
bered that an argument much used, particularly by gentlemen from Massachu- 
setts, against the ratio of 1 for 30,000, was that this Government was unlike the 
"State governments, which had an indefinite variety of objects within their 
power ; that it had a small number of objects only to attend to, and, therefore, 
that a smaller number of Representatives -would be sufficient to administer it. 

Arguments have been advanced to show that because, in the regulation of 
trade, indirect and eventual encouragement is given to manufacturers, there- 
fore Congress have power to give money in direct bounties, or to grant it in any 
other way that -would answer the same purpose. But surely, sir, there is a great 
and obvious difference, which it can not be necessaiy to enlarge upon. A duty 
laid on imported implements of husbandry would, in its operation, be an indi- 
rect tax on exported produce; but will any one say that by virtue of a mere 
:power to lay duties on imports Congress might go directly to the produce or 
implements of agriculture or to the articles exported? It is true, duties on ex- 
ports are expressly prohibited ; but if there were no article forbidding them, a 
power directly to tax exports could never be deduced from a power to tax im- 
.ports, altliough such a power might indirectly and incidentally affect exports. 

In short, sir, without going further into the subject, which I should not have 
here touched at all but for the reasons already mentioned, I venture to declare 
itas my opinion that were the power of Congress to be established in the lati- 
tude contended for it would subvert the very foundations and transmute the 
-very nature of the limited government established by the people of America ; 
and what inferences might be drawn or what consequences ensue from such a 
'Step it is incumbent on us all to consider. 

If reason and v?eight of authority can settle any question, the two 



15 

authorities just quoted would seem to settle conclusively the question 
that Congress can not under the authority of the Constitution appro- 
priate money to carry out the purposes of this bill to establish and sup- 
port common schools in the States. 

Have Southern Senators so soon forgotten the horrors of the so-called 
reconstruction of the Southern States, when the Constitution and laws 
were silent, and the people there were only permitted to hear, to suffer, 
and to obey the commands of the military, that they are ready for a few 
million dollars to take from those they represent the protecting shield 
of the Constitution, and subject them to the capricious will, the preju- 
dices, and the avarice of a popular majority of the American people? 
Do they forget that they are representing the weaker section of the 
Union ? That their people need and demand protection, equality of 
rights, and liberty more than they do money ? 

I can not speak for others, but if I were to vote for the passage of this 
bill, with my convictions as to the powers of Congress under the Con- 
stitution, I should feel that to secure to the State of Texas the paltry 
sum of about $4,000,000, to be paid in installments, during a period of 
-eight years, I had voted to abrogate, to annul the Constitution of the 
United States, the sheet-anchor of our liberties, the bond which binds 
together what should be a perpetual Union, of what should be inde- 
structible States, resting on the will and auithority of the freest, most 
prosperous, and most happy people as a whole on the face of the earth. 

•CONGRESS MAY APPEOPEIATE LAND, BUT IT CAN NOT TAX THE PEOPLE FOR 
EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. 

It has been assumed in argument by many Senators, that because 
Congress had granted lands for educational purposes it could also grant 
money for the same purpose. If Congress had granted lands for this 
purpose in the absen^ of the necessary authority, such precedents would 
not justify the passing of other unconstitutional acts. If precedents are 
to take the place of constitutional grants of power, then we might as 
well regard the Constitution as abrogated, for precedents not warranted 
by its provisions may be found all along through the history of the 
Government. There would be no more wisdom or justice in such an 
assumption than for us to conclude that the bad acts of our private lives 
should serve as precedents to excuse or justify other bad acts, and re- 
lieve us from any obligation to obey the moral law and the precepts of 
Christianity. 

But there are other answers to this assumption that the giving of lands 
justifies taxing the people to give money for educational purposes in the 
States. The Government lands are held in trust by it for the benefit of 
the whole American people, and it is simply discharged from that trust pro 
tanto when it surrenders portions of them to aid in the cause of educa- 
tion. And in all cases, I believe, when public lands or money the pro- 
ceeds of the sales of public lands have been so appropriated, their use and 
application have been controlled by the several States and Territories by 



m 

their own laws and agents. If the Federal Grovernment should attempt 
to follow its land grants into the State, and to administer them there, 
that would also violate the Constitution, but for a different reason than 
for taxing the people for the purpose specified in this bill. The appro- 
priations of land have been absolute, without provisions for reversion tO' 
the United States after the titles vested, and wholly freed from Federal 
control. Congress does not undertake to go into the States with its 
laws and its agents to administer the land so appropriated, or the pro- 
ceeds of the sales of such land, nor to require the governors of States 
and other State officers to contorm their action in the use of such lands 
to the requirements of Federal laws, nor to report their proceedings to 
any Federal officer for his approval or disapproval. And, beside this, 
under Article IV, section 3, clause 2 of the Constitution, Congress has 
plenary and unlimited power to dispose of the public lands, while taxes- 
can only be levied by the Federal Government to carry out the purposes- 
for which it was established, as I have tried to demonstrate. This dis- 
tinction, it seems to me, is conclusive against the power of the Federal) 
Government to levy and collect taxes to support schools in the States;; 
and also against the assumption that because Congress has granted lands 
to promote education in the States it can tax the people and raise and 
appropriate money for the same purpose. 

Atalysis of the bill,. 

The case is entirely different with the bill under consideration. The 
people are to be taxed to raise the |79,000,000. Federal officers are to 
be appointed to examine and supervise the reports from all of the thirty- 
eight States and nine or ten Territories. The people are to be taxed in; 
addition to cover the cost of collecting the above sum, and for the pay- 
ment of the salaries, etc. , of the required officers and clerks. And in a 
large measure the money is to be collected from the people of some of 
the States for the benefit of the people of other States. It would be- 
more equitable, and much less expensive, for the citizens of each State 
to pay the taxes to support their own schools, and to collect those taxes 
by their own officers and off" their own subjects of taxation. 

Instead of giving this money to the several States and Territories, to- 
be administered by them, as in the case of the public lands given for a 
like purpose, this bill provides in its first section that — 

No money shall be paid to any State, or to any officer thereof, until the Legisla- 
ture of the State shall, by bill or resolution, accept the provisions of this act; 
and such acceptance shall be Sled with the Secretary of the Interior. 

The State must first accept the bribe. It must then, by bill or res- 
olution, solemnly ratify an unconstitutional act of Congress. And thea 
it must crown its self-accepted infamy by filing such bill or resolutiott 
with the Secretary of the Interior. 

The fourth section of the bill evinces so clearly the complete subor- 
dination in which the States are to be held to the Federal laws and 
authorities that I shall quote all of it down to the proviso, as follows.' 



17 

Sec. 4. That no State or Territory shall receive any money under this act until 
the governor thereof shall file with the Secretary of the Interior a statement, 
certified by him, showing the common-school system in force in such State or 
Territory ; the amount of monej' expended therein during the last preceding 
school year in the support of common schools, not including expenditures for 
the rent, repair, or erection of school-houses; whether any discrimination is 
made in the raising or distributing of the common-school revenues or in the 
common-school facilities afforded between the white and colored children 
therein, and, so far as is practicable, the sources from which such revenues were 
derived; the manner in which the same were apportioned to the use of the 
common schools; the number of white and colored children in each county or 
parish and city between the ages of ten and twenty-one 3'ears, both inclusive, 
as given by the census of 1880, and the number of children, white and colored, 
of such school age attending school ; the number of schools in operation in each 
county or parish and city, white and colored; the school term for each class; 
the number of teachers employed, ■white and colored, male and female, and the 
average compensation paid such teachers; the average attendance in each class, 
and the length of the school term. No money shall be paid out under this act 
to any State or Territory that shall not have provided by law a system of free 
common schools for all of its children of school age, without distinction of race 
or color, either in the raising or distributing of school revenues or in the school 
facilities afforded. 

No comment is necessary to expose its purpose. 

The section goes down into tlie States, takes hold of State officers, 
directs how they shall do and what they shall report. I leave that 
question with Senators for their consideration. 

The fifth section of tie act contains the following: 

And the Secretary of the Interior is charged with the proper administration 
■of this law, through the Commissioner of Education ; and they are authorized 
and directed, under the approval of the President, to make all needful rulss and 
regulations, not inconsistent with its provisions, to carry this law into effect. 

That is, to carry a Federal law into effect within the States, and re- 
lating to a question of local State policy, the education of the children 
of these States. 

It provides in the sixth section what studies shall be taught in State 
schools in which the State furnishes the houses, pays the general ex- 
pense of administering the law, and at least one-half the current ex- 
pense for instruction proper, as follows: 

That the instructions in common schools wherein these moneys shall he ex- 
pended shall include the art of reading, writing, and speaking the English lan- 
guage, arithmetic, geography, and history of the United States. 

It then graciously adds: 

And such branches of useful knowledge as maybe taught under local laws. 

So the Federal law will not even trust the States to prescribe the 
course of study for their children. 

But this delectable section proceeds: 

And copies of all school books authorized by the school boards or other au- 
thorities of the respective States and Territories, and used in the schools of the 
sanie, shall be filed with the Secretary of the Interior. 

Why ? Is there a purpose in this? If not, why is it put in the bill ? 
If there is, why is it not expressed ? The study of the history of the 
Rgn. 2 



18 

United States is one of the branches to be taught. There are several 
school histories of the United States. The last section of this bill pro- 
vides that — 

The power to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby reserved. 

Is it the intention that if the histories of the United States are not 
such as are approved by the Secretary of the Interior and the Commis- 
sioner of Education this act shall be so amended as to enable them to 
prescribe what history of the United States shall be taught? Some of 
the school histories of the United States contain matter which some of 
the Senators supporting this bill would not like to have taught to. their 
children. Let them beware what they are doing. And do they think 
that their Legislatures and States and school officers are unequal to the 
task of prescribing a course of studies for public common schools? If 
not, why consent to the impertinent intrusion by a Federal law of a di- 
rection as to what studies shall be taught our children ? And why 
demand the inspection of our school books? Such was the policy of 
Eussia towards the Poles in prohibiting the use of the Polish language 
in schools after the conquest of Poland. Such was the policy of Aus- 
tria with Hungary, whose people, up to a recent date, were not per- 
mitted to educate their children in their own language, and now only in 
their primary schools, but were required to adopt the language of their 
conquerors and masters. The same policy was pursued by Germany 
after the conquest of Alsace-Lorraine, in which province, as I am in- 
formed, the French population were required to be instructed in books 
of history which eulogized the Germans and vilified the French. 

The eighth section of the act provides as follows: 

That no greater part of the money appi-opriated by this act shall be paid out 
to any State or Territory in any one year than tlie sum expended out of its own 
revenues, or out of moneys raised under its authority, including interest money 
from any source, in the preceding year, for the maintenance of common schools, 
not included in the sums cxpeiwied in the erection of buildings. 

If there are people who suppose they will be relieved from taxation 
for school purposes by the proposed subvention, the reading of this sec- 
tion will cure them of that belief. 

Section 10 provides — 

That no part of the fund allotted to any State or Territory under the first 
section of this act shall be used for the erection of school-houses or school build- 
ings of any description, nor for rent of the same. 

The sixteenth section, however, provides for the appropriation of 
$2,000,000, to be divided among the several States and Territories, for 
the construction of school -houses, under the following conditions pre- 
scribed by that section: 

Such school-houses shall be built in accordance with plans to be furnished 
free on application by the Bureau of Education of Washington : Provided, Imw- 
cver, That not more than S150 shall be paid from said fund towards the cost of 
any single school-house, nor more than one-half the cost thereof in any case. 

So it is seen the people in the several Slates and Territories are not 
to be trusted with the planning and building of cheap country school- 
houses, when they furnish at least half the money to pay for theiir 



19 

cousfcruction, and when they have to be built under plans submitted by 
the Bureau of Education. This bill goes on to provide that — 

The States and Territories shall annually make full report of all the ex- 
penditures from the school-house fund to the Secretary of the Interior, as in 
case of other moneys received under the provisions of this act. 

For what purpose? To what end? What necessity is there, if it is 
not in connection with other provisions of the bill, to dwarf and de- 
grade the States, and to prepare the people for a centralized Eepublic, 
a despotism of majorities? 

The twelfth section of the act shows that it is intended to subordi- 
nate completely the State authorities to the Federal authorities, and- 
that the law shall be administered by Federal officials. If this is 
not so, why require a detailed statement from the governor of every- 
thing which is to be done in the State to the Secretary of the Interior. 
This section of the act is so important that I read it in its entirety: 

Sec. 12. That no second or subsequent allotment shall be made under this 
act to any State or Territory unless the governorof such State or Territory shall 
first file with the Secretary of the Interior a statement, certified by him, giving 
a detailed account of tlie payments or disbursements made of the school fund 
apportioned to his State or Territory and received by tlie State or Territorial 
treasurer or officer under this act, and of the balance iu the hands of such treas- 
urer or ofiioer withheld, unclaimed, or for any cause unpaid or unexpended, and 
also the amount expended in such State or Territory, as required by section 9 
of this act, and also a statement of the number of school districts in such State 
or Territory, and whether any portion of such State or Territory has not been 
divided into school districts or other Territorial subdivisions for school pur- 
poses, and if so, what portion, and the reasons why the same has not been so 
subdivided; the number of children of school age in each district, and the rela- 
tive number of white and colored children in each district, and of the number 
of public, common, and industrial schools in each district; the number of teach- 
ers employed ; the rate of wages paid ; tne total number of children in the State 
or Territory, and the total number taught during the year, and in what branches 
instructed; the average daily attendance and the relative number of white and 
colored children ; and the number of months in each year schools have been 
maintained in each school district. And if any State or Territory shall mis- 
apply or allow to be misapplied, or iu any manner appropriated or used other 
than for the puijjoses and in the manner herein required, the funds, or any 
part thereof, received under the provisions of this act, or shall fail to comply 
with the conditions herein prescribed or to report as herein provided, through 
its proper otlicers, the disposition thereof, and the otlier matters herein pre- 
sci'ibed to be so reported, such State or Territory shall forfeit its right to any 
subsequent apportionment by virtue hereof until the full amount so misap- 
plied, lost, or misappropriated shall have been replaced by such State or Terri- 
tory and apj^lied as herein required, and until such report shall have been 
made: Prouided, That if the public schools in any State admitpupils not within 
the ages herein specified, it shall not be deemed a failuve to conipl5' with the 
conditions herein. If it shall appear to the Secretary of the Interior that the 
funds received under this act for the preceding year by the State or Territory 
have been faithfully applied to the purposes contemplated by this act, and that 
the conditions thereof liave been observed, then, and not otherwise, the Secre- 
tary of the Interior shall distribute the next year's appropriation as is herein- 
before provided. And it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to 
promptly investigate all comphnuts lodged with him of any misappropriation 
by or in any State or Territory of any moneys received by such State or Terri- 
tory under the provisions of this act, or of any discrimination in the use of such 
moneys; and the said complaints, and all communications received concerning 
the same, and the evidence taken upon such investigations, shall be preserved 
by the Secretary of the Interior, and shall be open to public inspection and an- 
nually reported to Congress 

Why require the governors to certify to the Secretary of the Interior 

a detailed account of the payments and disbursements made of this 

school fund, unless for the purpose of having the fund administered 

under the direction of Federal officers ? And how are the governors 

■to comply with this requirement and that of the fourth section ? How 



20 

much time and how many clerks will be necessary to enable them ta 
comply with the requirements of these sections? Can any Senator 
guess? And here let me suggest that in view of the very vastness of 
the appropriation of public funds proposed by this bill Senators seem 
to have forgotten the smaller but still very large appropriations which 
will have to be made i'rom year to year for the clerical force, both here 
and in the States, necessary to carry out its provisions. 

And the Secretary of the Interior is required to promptly investi- 
srate all complaints of misappropriation of these moneys and of any 
discriminations in the use of such moneys. Knowing the negro char- 
acter as I do, I will venture to predict that if this section becomes 
law the Secretary of the Interior will not be able to investigate all 
the complaints which will come to him under it. An ignorance for 
which they should not be held r&spousible and suspicions which arise 
partly from that ignorance and partly from their social position, coupled 
with a knowledge that they can appeal to a power which they believe 
to be unfriendly to the Southern whites, will no doubt bring a vast 
number of frivolous and unj ust complaints to the Secretary for inves- 
tigation and open a new and rich field for sectional agitation. 

The best people of both races in the South are anxious to promote 
harmonious relations between the whites and blacks, and gratifying 
progress has been made in that respect. But my belief is if this bill 
shall become a law it will disappoint the philanthropic hopes and ex- 
pectations of both Northern and Southern Senators who are supporting 
it, and reopen a Pandora's box, to pour oiit anew upon the Southern 
States the ills they have suffered so much from, but which have been 
less grievous during the ]a.st few years. I have no desire to be a prophet 
of evil, but it may be better to avoid than to suffer what must in the 
nature of things flow from the passage of such a law as this would be. 

EDtlCATION IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 

The passage of the bill under consideration has been urged by some 
Senators and accepted by others because of the exceptional condition 
in which some of the States were left as the result of the late civil 
war; because by it about eight million slaves were made free people 
and were invested with the righte and privileges of citizenship, which 
they were not, as a rule, qualified to exercise intelligently; and because 
by it the States in which most of them reside were greatly impover- 
ished. 

We must all recognize the great force of this philanthropic desire to 
enlighten so large a number of citizens who are in so great need of the 
knowledge which is necessary to enable them to understand and to per- 
form the duties of citizenship and to take care of their own personal 
rights. And so strongly do I sympathize with this view that nothing, 
less than the fear of subverting our form of government and endanger- 
ing the liberty of both races could induce me to oppose its being car- 
ried out by some such law as the one now proposed. 



21 

It is true that at the close of the late civil war the Southern States- 
were utterly impoverished and in a large measure desolated. Their 
social and industrial systems, which came down to them through the 
traditions of the ages, and had been secured to them by constitutional 
provisions and by legal enactments, were utterly destroyed, at a sacri- 
fice to them of thousands of millions of dollars, and rich and poor 
aliiie were involved in almost universal bankruptcy. Their school 
systems and educational' institutions were in abeyance. They were 
without means to sustain them, and education languished. 

I do not mention these things to complain of them now. They were 
in a large measure the result of causes for which the generation which 
suffered from them was not responsible, and they are buried in the 
irrevocable past. But I mention them for the purpose of contrasting 
the educational condition in those States now with what it was then ; 
to show that the interests of education are not being neglected there, 
and that that country is not in the danger from illiteracy which some 
of the friends of this bill seem to suppose. 

I do not propose to go fully into this subject. But I make the gen- 
eral statement that all the Southern States have now fully organized 
systems of free public schools in operation, sustained by the revenues 
of these States, in which all the children of scholastic age receive in- 
struction, the white and black children having equal benefits from the 
common schools. Private schools, colleges, and universities have also 
been restored to active usefulness and are now generally in successful 
operation, and normal schools for the education of both white and black 
teachers, sustained at public expense, are now in successful operation 
in some of the Southern States. The school funds of most of those 
States are not yet sufficient to afford tuition for as many months in the 
year as is desirable; but these funds are annually increasing, and the 
organization of the school systems is being perfected as fast as the 
sparseness of settlements in some portions of them will permit. 

The State common-school funds in some of these States, perhaps in 
most of them, are being supplemented by local taxation in school dis- 
tricts, which is provided for by law, so that in very many districts free 
schools are kept n operation for six, eight, and ten months in the year. 
I have not the means ot knowing how much money in the aggregate 
is raised by local taxation for free-school purposes in these States, but 
suppose the sum to be very nearly equal to the State appropriations. 

I think no one who is familiar with the condition and progress of 
education in the Southern States will question the general accuracy of 
the statement I am making of it. So it will be seen they are not in so 
deplorableaconditionastocall for very extraordinary measures for their 
relief in this respect. 

As tending to show the progress of education in the free common 
schools of that section of the Union, I submit a statement of the annual 
income of the several States for this purpose where there is the great- 



North Carolina - 1631,904 

South Caroliwa 515,580 

Tennessee 1,330,850 

Texas 1,661,476 

Virginia 1,050,860 

West Virginia 957, 150 



22 

-est amount of illiteracy, which has grown out of the enfranchisement 

of the black .population. The statement is for the year 1884-'85, which 

is the last year for which such a statement has been made out: 

.'Alabama..! $511,510 

Arkansas 931, 404 

Florida .335,984 

<xeorsia 090,372 

Louisiana 571, 139 

Maryland 1,758, ,585 

Mississippi 872,320 

Missouri 4,232,073 Aggregating 16,051,207 

Since taking the foregoing statement from the report of the Secre- 
'tary of the Interior, from House of Representatives Executive Docu 
ment No. 1, part 5, first session l''orty-ninth Congress, I have received 
the following letter from Hon. M. J. Durham, First Comptroller of the 
Treasury, which shows that the current common-school fund for the 
last scholastic year for theStateof Kentucky amounted to $1,247,798.40, 
which added to the foregoing aggregate makes the total of the current 
school fund for the Southern States about 117,299,005 for the year 
1884-'85, and for the State of Kentucky 1886-'87: 

Tkeasxjey Department, First Compteollee's Office, 

Washington, D. C, January 3, 1888. 
Dear Sir: Referring to our conversation of yestei-day, I will say that I do 
not find the governor's message as lull upon the school question in Kentucky 
as I supposed it was, but I can give you a general statement about it. We have 
a general system of common-school education In Kentucky, and it is supported 
by interest upon a fund that has been derived from various sources, amounting 
to somethin.ii'over a million and a half of money, and in addition to that there 
is a tax of 22i cents levied upon the taxable property of the State for the support 
of common schools ; and the amount derived from interest on the fund and 
taxes for the year just closed is $1,247,798.40, being a per capita of $1.90 to each 
child between the ages of six and sixteen. There is no distinction made in this 
fund between white and colored children. The system is a reasonably fair one 
in Kentucky. As a matter of course, local taxation in the various districts 
.amounts to a very considerable sum, but to just how much I am not able to 
state. 

Very truly, yours, 

M. J. DURHAM. 
Hon. John H. Reagaist, 

United Stales Senate. , 

This, it will be seen, makes a very respectable showing for those 
States under the circumstances. And these figures would be much 
-more imposing if the sums voted by local communities could be added 
to it, and if we were able to show the sums expended in the construe- . 
tion of school-houses, and for education in private schools, in normal 
schools, and in the cc 11 -ges and universities of those States. 

What I have said will, I trust, show that there is no reason for the 
Southern States to be regarded as mendicants, seekingalms at the hands 
•of their more prosperous neighbors; that there is no reason to fear that 
liberty will be lost and that our Governmentand institutions will perish 
because of the illiteracy of their children; that no facts exist which 
should induce their people to surrender their State autonomy and with 
it their manhood and self-reliance. Much less is there reason for them, 
to consent to the overthrow of our constitutional Republic, and for them 
to consent to the adoption of a centralized despotism of majorities, 
which means the entire subordination of the interests of the minority 
•section to those of the majority section of the country. 
what is education? 

What is learned in the schools is not all there is of education. The 



23 

schools aid in the acquisition of knowledge;' but much of real educationi 
is acquired in the family circle, on the farm, in the workshop, in pub- 
lic assemblages, in court-houses, at the hustings, and in the churches. 
And there is probably not a Senator here who has not known men of 
superior intelligence who could neither read nor write. And the uni- 
versal experience in this country is that even among the illiterate class- 
there is a great deal of practical intelligence and mauy useful citizens. 
In the discussion of this bill we seem to lose sight of these great ftxcts, 
and to proceed on the principle that the knowledge necessary to good 
citizenship can only be acquired in the school- house. Would it not be 
as well for us on this as on other questions to consult common sense and 
our every-day experience? I saw, when a boy, in the Charleston (S. 
C.) Mercury a very interesting paper on the subject of "Atmospheric 
knowledge and the education of the blood." I have not forgotten the 
impression it made on me. Our whole lives are a school. All our sur- 
luuLidiugs are school-masters. And a person with natural laculties can 
hardly be raised in this country without practical knowledge enough to 
make a comfortable living and to uuderstaud the principal duties of citi- 
zenship. Of course I have reference to the free people. Such was not 
the case, as a rule, with the slave population. But now that they are 
Iree and invested with the rights of citizenship, it will as well apply 
to them; if, as we hope may be the case, they are capable of the intel- 
lectual development which a few of them have shown and which char- 
acterizes the Caucasian race. 

The people of the section where the most of them live mean to make 
a fair and feithful trial of their capacity to this end; and they need no 
promptings from others as to the demands of duty and interest in this 
respect. Investigation would probably develop the fact that outside 
of the black population, whose condition is exceptional, there are more 
educated foo>s than there are illiterate people not qualified to take 
care of their own interests. I do not make these suggestions to under- 
value scholastic education, for I recognize fully its importance, but to 
call to mind facts which shouW not be lost sight of in considering the 
capacity of our people for self-government, and to show that we are 
not in so great danger on account of illiteracy, as seems to be supposed 
by some Senators. 

CONDITIOlsr OP EDUCATION IN TEXAS. 

I can not speak with as full information of the progress which is being 
made in the matter of education in other States, but I submit a letter 
from the comptroller of public accounts of the State of Texas, to show 
what is being done in that State: 

Office op the Comptroller, 

Austin, December 2S, 1887. 
Hon. John H. Keagan, 

United States Senate, Washington, D. C. : 
Dear Sie: In reply to yours of the 20th instant I give you below a statement 
regarding tlie school fund of Texas, which I presume is the information desired' 
by you. 

The investment of the permanent school fund of Texas is as follows, to wit: 

Texas State bonds $2,048,000- 

County bonds 2,263,000 

Railroad bonds 1,753,000 

Cash uninvested 220,000 

Total 6,284.000 



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There are about 25,0i0,000 acres of land donated by the State to the permanent 
•fund, that are yet unsold. 

The annual interest due upon sales of lands belonging to said fund is about 
$650, 000. 

In addition to the income from the above-named investments, an annual ad- 
valorem tax of 12i cents on the :ijlO0 valuation of property, and a poll tax of H, 
are levied and collected and one-fourth of all occupation taxes collected is ap- 
■oronriated for the purpose of supplementing said income. 

The apportionment made by the board of education for the support of the 
public schools for the present scholastic year amounts in round numbers to 
$2,300,000. It is estimated that school districts and cities supplement the State 
fund about §800,000 by local taxation, and by investments held by the school 
fund of the counties. 

The University of Texas has now an annual income of about $50,000, with a 
permanent fundof 8544,000 in. Texas State bonds, besides her lands that are un- 
sold. 

The Agricultural and Mechanical College has an annual income of $22,000. 

There was appropriated by the hist Legislature $100,000 for the support of the 
Deaf and Dumb and Blind Institutes for this year. 
Respectfully, 

JNO. D. McCALL, 

ContptruUer. 

P. S. — In reply to your telegram just received I give you below the total tax- 
able valui-s of this State from 18S0 to 1>^S7, inclusive ; tlie other questions I think 
have already been answered in the letter. 

1880 j^5!l,470,736 I 1884 $603,060,817 

]881 357,000,000 18S5 621,011,989 

1S82 4J9,92o,476 1886 630,525,123 

3.883 527,537,390 | 1887 050,412,401 

From this it is seen that the permaneii t common school fund in Texas, 
in money and land, is perhaps greater than that in any other State in 
the Union, or than in any other country in the world; and that the cur- 
rent available fund for the present scholastic year amounts to $2,300,- 
000, to which is to be added the $800,000 derived from local taxation, 
making the current school fund of the State for the scholastic year 
amount to about $3,100,000. 

The permanent university fund of $544,000 is supplemented by very 
large land grants, with an available fund for current use of $50,000, 
while the Agricultural and Mechanical College has an annual income 
of $22,00C. And there is also a liberal support by the State to two nor- 
mal schools, one for the education of white, and one for the education 
of colored teachers. 

This statement shows the jDrogress made since 1884-'85 in education 
as well as in the taxable property of the State, when the available 
school fund of that State was $1,6«1,476. 

It may be that others of the Southern States are not as fortunately 
situated as Texas in this respect. But that they are all as earnestly 
engaged in the promotion of the cause of education I think is undoubt- 
edly tru«; and that they will succeed in the establishment of good sys- 
tems of free common schools, which will meet the necessities of their 
people, without Federal aid, I do not doubt. 

The desire lor the education of the black population is not a mere 
matter of sentiment v^ith the people of the Southern States, nor is it a 
political hobby by which they expect to gain or to retain political power 
in the Federal Government. The people of that section are influenced 
on that subject by far higher and nobler purposes. The negroes consti- 
tute a considerable part of their communities. They are invested with 
freedom and citizenship; and the interests of all of both races require 
that they should be qualified for these to them new duties, in order to 
secure the promotion of the welfare of all. 



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